Bay area protests against CPS and Family Court injustice

Join the March for Family Rights June 28

by Michelle Chan

On the first March for Family Rights to protest CPS and Family Court abuses, marchers rallied outside Superior Court in Walnut Creek on May 8. The next march will be June 28 in Martinez, gathering at 245 N. Court St. at 11 a.m.

At a potluck picnic on Feb. 17, 2018, three dozen families gathered in the shade in Pleasant Hill Park, located in Contra Costa County. It was a beautiful day. Across the way was a children’s play area, although only three children playing on the structures and in the sand belonged to the group.

The three children played and laughed together, and each time one of them ran through the picnic area filled with glee, a deep and hushed silence washed over the group as sharp spikes of longing and loss washed through the mothers and fathers and grandparents who had learned firsthand of injustice, of tyranny, of senselessness.

The picnickers came together through shared experiences, shared experiences that represent a pattern of misconduct, impropriety and collusion in Contra Costa County courts. Almost all picnickers were victims of Child Protective Services (CPS) or Family Court.

Nearly everyone in the group had lost custody because a social worker or a judge had violated their rights and the rights of their children. In the CPS cases, a judge was ultimately responsible by knowingly allowing the misconduct and rights violations to occur and ruled against the best interests of children.

The picnickers came together through shared experiences, shared experiences that represent a pattern of misconduct, impropriety and collusion in Contra Costa County courts. Almost all picnickers were victims of Child Protective Services (CPS) or Family Court.

Judges Rebecca Hardie, Lois Haight and Jill Fannin were the common denominator at this picnic. At one table, families discussed how Judge Rebecca Hardie refused to allow relative support in their court hearings, refused to allow them to be heard, kicked them out of their own hearings, deprived them of their right to competent and ethical legal representation, and then adopted children out while ignoring evidence of changed circumstances and best interests of the children.

At another table, families discussed how Judge Lois Haight routinely violated federal law by bypassing relative placement of children before foster care, how she allows questionable evidence by county attorneys into evidence, and how she has clear biases and admittedly does not believe in rehabilitation. In all CPS cases, social workers did not make reasonable efforts to allow families to stay together and Contra Costa CPS did not provide reasonable services to allow families to reunify.

Over on the other side of the group were the family court victims, men and women who have lost everything – property, children, careers – often based on swift decisions made without careful thought or human compassion and with no recourse. In this corner, victims of Judge Jill Fannin swapped stories of off-record, unappealable proceedings, of children lost based on circumspect, circumstantial or entirely absent evidence, of a court-insider so powerful that the pound of her gavel often felt like being slapped by God and the Devil at the same time.

In all CPS cases, social workers did not make reasonable efforts to allow families to stay together and Contra Costa CPS did not provide reasonable services to allow families to reunify.

And finally, huddled together off on their own, almost in secret, were mothers and family members whose children were sentenced in juvenile delinquency court to hard time for “crimes” that they claim were blown out of proportion or taken out of context, sentenced in trials in which the so-called criminals never stood a chance from start to finish.

Over the next three months, the group continued to grow, people with similar shared experiences that shattered their world and destroyed everything good and whole in their lives and in their children’s lives would come forward. The phone calls came in one after the other like rapid machine gun fire.

Hardie. Haight. Fannin. Hardie. Haight. Fannin. Each call more desperate than the last. People came forward swimming through an ocean of tears and trauma to realize that their deepest fears and inclinations were true – that the system they were and are trapped in is rigged, that our courts and child welfare systems are corrupt.

March for Family Rights

The March for Family Rights was a CPS and Family Court protest on May 8, 2018, in Walnut Creek, California. A diverse group of over 200 attendees rallied, marched, protested and then celebrated. The march took place in the context of a larger movement for child welfare and court reform – demanding greater oversight, transparency and accountability.

Parents Against CPS Corruption, or PACC, is a citizen oversight group and the lead organizer of the event. On May 8, we demanded the removals of the three Contra Costa Superior Court judges: Rebecca Hardie, Lois Haight and Jill Fannin. On May 8, we demanded that crooked judges, lawyers and social workers stop violating our rights and destroying families.

The march took place in the context of a larger movement for child welfare and court reform – demanding greater oversight, transparency and accountability.

In so many cases, state and federal law is not being followed, judges are abusing their discretion and engaging in misconduct and impropriety, in so many cases, families do not have competent and ethical legal representation. In so many cases families are forever impacted by bad rulings in the courts that lead to poor outcomes and adverse experiences for children.

On Thursday, June 28, 2018, we will hold another March for Family Rights to raise awareness of corruption and injustice in our child welfare system and in our courts and to further demand the removals of bad judges. We will be filing recall petitions against Judges Rebecca Hardie, Lois Haight and Jill Fannin.

Bring your friends, family and neighbors. We will begin gathering at 11 a.m. at 245 N. Court St., at Waterfront Park in Martinez, California. There will be a rally from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. At 1 p.m. sharp we will march through downtown Martinez, stopping to protest at the Family Justice Center, the District Attorney’s Office and the Alternate Defender’s Office.

On Thursday, June 28, 2018, we will hold another March for Family Rights to raise awareness of corruption and injustice in our child welfare system and in our courts and to further demand the removals of bad judges.

Afterwards we will return to Waterfront Park for barbecue and networking. Please contact us for more details and to RSVP if you plan on attending, at ParentsAgainstCPSCorruption.com or by calling 415-815-9415.

I am sorry to hear that you were retaliated Against. Retaliation can happen if a person is standing alone attempting or nearly alone to raise awareness. When there is a massive angry mob- it’s not as easy. I hope you haven’t lost hope in the idea that reform is attainable. I’m sorry for your loss.

Do you represent a group? In June Mark Sullivan is taking action at the United Nations in NYC he is looking for groups to represent the movement for Family Court Reform along with Dr Craig Childress. Here is Mark's video

>>Children in Foster Care from 2000-2016<<
It appears from many a news source that there has been quite an uproar of about 1,500 immigrant children being removed from their families.
Soo the NFAT Team thought developing a graph showing kids in Foster care from 2000-2016 might be worth sharing.
Check it out>>
>>HIGH of 544,303 in 2000;
>>LOW of 397,097 in 2012
Heck, long way from 1,500 yes?
~~~~~ http://nfpcar.org/Kids_Count/In_Care/index.html#C…

The protests bring home the reality that corruption doesn't just exist in our nation's Capitol, it's in our state and county governments, and even our local courts. An absence of local press coverage on court cases has created an accountability vacuum filled by bad actors.
regarding

I am from Alabama..We need reform here.Our rights are being violated.Our children are being grabbed up without proper proceedures.They are being grabbed up without court orders.Other violations too many to list are being perpetuated by a corrupt judicial system.If there is anyonone who could offer help or provide information ,i would like to discuss a class action lawsuit against a corrupt dhr here in Alabama.Believe me there are hundreds who would like to join up.My email address is sandraearnest1903@gmail.com…My address is 5506 Old Tuscaloosa Road Jasper,Alabama 35501..I have documentation and proof of their corruption..Feel free to PM me.Thank You